Back in the Day
by sarahlou82
Summary: prequel/prologue to When two Worlds Collide A bit of a one-shot of what happened before Connie came to Vegas, CSI:NY cross-over ish! Don Flack/OC


Title: Back in the Day - one-shot prequel to When Two Worlds Collide  
Pairing: Connie/Don Flack  
Rating: T for bad lanaguage, violence, minor sexual content  
Disclaimer: None of this is true. And I own none of the CSI characters. Not one of them. (Unfortunately!)

A/N No matter what I seem to do with the ending it doesn't seem quite right, so I'm leaving it as it is!

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Connie Baker was fresh out of college when she joined the New York CSI team, and although she had always thought of herself as being 'street smart', that all changed when she moved to New York. Nothing in her college training could quite prepare her for the hustle and bustle of New York at its busiest and the enormous size of the city.

She had nervously crept into work on her first day, not quite knowing what to expect. She had met her supervisor, Mac Taylor, at her interview and had warmed to him instantly. He seemed like a real 'no nonsense' guy, and had heard he had a military background, so he was obviously not somebody to be messed with! She hesitated outside his office door, something inside Connie told her she could be about to make the biggest mistake of her life.

She nervously ran her fingers through her already immaculate hair, checking her reflection in the office door. She brushed away an invisible eyelash from her cheek and a loose strand of hair from her shoulder. She raised her hand to knock on the door, when a broad New York accent startled her. "Hey, you must be the new girl."

Connie slowly turned towards the voice, not knowing what to expect when she did finally reach it. She looked up to find a slender bespectacled man stood behind her, his hand held out towards her. "Hey, I'm Danny Messer." He said as he gently took her hand and shook it. Connie's voice cracked a little with nerves as she spoke. "Hi, I'm Connie Baker. The new girl." "Nice to meet you Connie, but don't look so worried!" He slid an arm gently around her shoulder. "Mac doesn't bite y'know, and neither do the rest of us. Any problems, you come to me right?" She nodded vigorously, anything to get his arm from round her shoulder! She did not want him to realise how much she was shaking with nerves.

She was saved by the gentle squeak of the office door, and the arrival of her supervisor. "Danny," he said sternly, "Put Connie down, I need to speak to her." Danny released Connie from his gentle grasp and reaffirmed that he was the one she had to go to if she had any problems.

Mac Taylor was pleased with the new addition to his team. She may be fresh out of college and a little naïve, but he could see real potential in there, and he hoped that he could help release it. And she had obviously made a good impression on Danny, which was not necessarily a good thing!

After having an informal chat with Connie about that day's events, Mac Taylor took her to meet the rest of the team. Stella and Lindsay warmed to her immediately, glad to have another female on the team to even out the male/female ratio. Although, as Lindsay pointed out, that would not necessarily even things out as Danny has "enough testosterone for five men!" Connie instantly liked Lindsay; she could see they were going to have lots in common.

Introductions out of the way, the team were soon down to work. Connie accompanied Stella to a murder scene, where she was introduced to Don Flack, a homicide detective. Connie was not sure if it was the shock of arriving at her first murder scene or if it was the detective in front of her that took her breath away momentarily. Don was tall and well built, and wore his suit and tie very well. Stella introduced the two of them, and as Connie looked into his deep blue eyes she saw a million different things flash through them as they glinted in the sunlight. Connie momentarily forgot herself, and mumbled briefly before correcting herself and managing to shake his broad hand.

Stella and Connie began to process the scene while Don stood outside the apartment talking to neighbours. Connie found it difficult at first to get used to the stench of the blood splattered across the apartment walls: it had been a particularly bloody and vicious murder. The whole scene began to overwhelm Connie to the extent that she suddenly turned and dashed out of the apartment, straight into the arms of Don. "Wow, where's the fire?" He questioned, holding Connie's arms as she stood in front of him, her chest heaving. "It's nothing, just got too much." She mumbled between raggedy breaths. "Ok, take it easy Connie, sit down here." He directed Connie to the wall in the corridor, and she slowly sunk to the floor, her back firmly against the wall. Don sat down next to her, putting away his open notebook as he did, and took one of her hands in both of his. "This your first murder then huh?" He asked knowingly. Connie didn't dare speak in case she vomited all over herself and Don, so just nodded her head. Don indicated to one of the uniformed officers to get Connie some water, so he left them alone in the corridor, still sat on the floor, Connie's breath returning to normal.

They sat silently on the floor for a few minutes until Connie felt well enough to stand up. "There you go." Don said kindly, as he helped her to her feet. "You just needed a bit of fresh air." The sound of shouting on the stairs and the thunder of footsteps pounding up them made both Connie and Don turn to face the staircase. A wild looking man came charging through the corridor and at exactly the same moment Connie and Don registered the gun he was brandishing. "Fucking cops! I'll fucking kill you all! Fucking burn in hell!" The gunman pointed his gun directly at a terrified Connie, who stood trembling with fear. Without even thinking, Don withdrew his gun and shot the gunman twice in the chest. The echo of the shots nearly deafened Connie, and her eyes widened with shock as the wounds opened in the gunman's chest and he seemed to fall in slow motion.

The shots drew the uniformed officers from downstairs and Stella from inside the apartment. It took Stella a few seconds to take in the scene before her, Don was stood over a body, checking for a pulse, and Connie was stood near the doorway, rigid with fear, before collapsing into Stella's arms, in floods of tears. Don walked over to where Stella and Connie were stood and explained what happened, as the uniformed officers finally reached the landing. With a real look of fury on his face, Don turned to them and began to shout. "Where the hell were you? How could you let a guy in the door carrying a gun? He nearly shot a rookie CSI on her first day! What the hell were you doing?" A number of mumbled apologies and excuses left the uniformed officers' mouths, as Don turned away, ignoring them. He gently pulled Connie away from Stella and held her tightly in her arms, murmuring reassurances in her ear.

The rest of the day was incredibly busy for Stella, Connie and Don, as they had to explain the situation in the apartment building. Connie found herself leaving the police department at the same time as Don. "Let me take you out for dinner Connie, you've had a real rough first day and I wanna show you New York isn't all bad." She nodded in consent and they headed off to Don's favourite restaurant.

That night was the beginning of passionate relationship between the two of them. Worried about being lonely in her new apartment, Connie had invited Don in for a drink, and when he got up to leave she began to kiss him. Don returned the kiss and they were soon tumbling into Connie's new bed.

Amazingly they managed to keep their relationship a complete secret from everyone, despite snatched moments together while they were supposed to be working. Somehow they both knew that they were not meant to be together forever, but neither could ignore the intense electricity that passed between them whenever they were together, and the passion between them in the bedroom was intense.

In time, as Connie became more and more dedicated to her work, the passion and electricity began to run out, until they both reached the point where they thought that they would just be better off being friends. So they dated other people, and neither got jealous. But they still liked to reminisce every so often about when they had been together "back in the day."


End file.
